(LOS ANGELES) – Today, City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto announced that her office successfully defended the Los Angeles Police Department (“LAPD”), former Chief Michel Moore, two officers and the City of Los Angeles in a lawsuit filed over LAPD’s response to an emergency that was later determined to be a swatting incident targeting a prominent local activist. Swatting is the action of making a phone call to report a fake emergency so that police respond to a target’s address. The jury returned a verdict in the City’s favor on all counts, rejecting the plaintiff’s claims that somehow the police and the City should have known that the call was fake and should not have responded or shown up at her home.
“The LAPD officers in this case responded appropriately to an emergency call in accordance with their training and mission to protect and serve everyone in our City” said Hydee Feldstein Soto, Los Angeles City Attorney. “I thank the jury for their service.”
On August 12, 2020, LAPD received a 911 call from a person threatening to shoot three hostages inside a home. Based on the nature of the 911 call, officers were dispatched to the address with instructions to have their service weapons in a “law-ready” position and to order everyone inside the address to come outside with their hands up. Once it was determined that no one inside was being held hostage and that it was a hoax 911 call, also called swatting, the officers left the location. The Plaintiff was never detained, no weapons were pointed at her, and no physical force was used against anyone. The home was that of plaintiff Melina Abdullah but the responding LAPD officers were not initially aware that it was her home.
This litigation was managed by the City Attorney’s Civil Litigation Branch, Police Litigation Unit.
Civil case #21STCV34800
Melina Abdullah, an individual, Plaintiff, v. City of Los Angeles, Los Angeles Police Department, Chief Michel Moore in his official capacity, and does 1 to 25 in their official and personal capacities.
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Hydee Feldstein Soto is the 43rd Los Angeles City Attorney, elected in November 2022 and sworn into office in December 2022. Her team of more than 1,000 legal professionals, including 550 attorneys, carries out legal work for the City of Los Angeles at her direction and under her supervision. She is the first female City Attorney in L.A. history.